Dangerous amount of sugar has been have been found in high street cafes offering drinks to customers.

If you cannot start your day without that morning cup of coffee, this horrific bit of news might make you reconsider your decision to visit your favourite cafe on a regular basis.

According to a recent survey conducted by a charity called Action on Sugar (AoS), most of the high street cafes use staggering amounts of sugar in preparing your favourite cuppa, and other hot beverages.

The survey found that 98 per cent of the 131 hot-flavoured drinks served in these high street chains would carry a "red" warning for excessive levels of sugar if the coffee shops were forced to label them.

The drinks tested included widely bought flavours of coffees, including mochas and lattes, hot fruit drinks, and hot chocolates, among others.

Starbucks, which is known for sourcing the highest quality of coffee in the world, was found to have the highest sugar content. Their venti Grape with Chai, Orange and Cinnamon Hot Mulled Fruit, had a total of 25 teaspoons of sugar per serving, the campaign group said.

Costa's beverages were the second worst offenders with their chai latte, which contains 20 teaspoons of sugar.

Whereas, KFC's mocha was found to have 15 teaspoons of sugar per serving, which matches Starbucks' Signature Hot Chocolate. Caffe Nero's drink-in Caramelatte, on the other hand, has been found to have 13 teaspoons.

Almost a third of all the drinks tested were found to contain the same or higher levels of sugar as compared to a can of Coca-Cola.

The non-coffee drinks also came under the scanner, and were found to contain high-sugar syrup that is used to add to the flavour.

Action on Sugar has called on the coffee chains to stop serving extra-large cups of sugar-laden hot drinks.

AoS has also revealed that one in every five people in the UK visit a coffee shop everyday, and an estimated 1.7 billion cups of coffee are sold each year in the UK from over 18,000 retailers.

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